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Welcome to BIEN, the Botanical Information and Ecology Network

BIEN is a network of ecologists, botanists, and computer scientists working together to document global patterns of plant diversity, function and distribution.

Our central goal – To deliver (i) standardized botanical observation records, (ii) geographic range maps, diversity maps, (iii) species lists; and (iv) a species-level phylogeny for all of the plants in the New World. This information will enable us to better understand the determinants of the past and present plant diversity, distributions and abundance. This knowledge is essential for predicting how species, vegetation and agricultural crops will respond to future climate changes as well as providing a more accurate baseline to describe many dimensions of plant diversity (taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic) in the New World.

The BIEN working group is developing a standardized workflow and informatics engine for the integration, access, and discovery of disparate sources of botanical information. The BIEN working group is a conduit for standardizing, integrating others people's data so as to do repeatable Science. Further, the working group is utilizing these standardized data to the create several deliverables including geographic range maps for all species in the New World, an integrated trait database, and a species-level phylogeny for Embryophytes of the New World.

The BIEN website- is a portal to summarize the different goals and projects associated with BIEN and brings together many types of data needed to address several pressing ecological and global change questions. Here you will find access to, for all plant species in the New World (i) georeferenced plant observations from herbarium, plot, and trait records; (ii) vegetation and plot inventories; (iii) species geographic distribution maps; (iv) plant traits; (v) a species-level phylogeny for all plants in the New World; and (vi) cross-continent, continent, and country-level species lists.

Access Data – See the data policy page (click here) where you can request access to data and data products